


when you speak i hear silence

by zerotransfat



Category: Transistor (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: ...kind of, Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Don't say I didn't warn you, Ensemble Cast, Heavy Angst, Izuku is a Sword, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zerotransfat/pseuds/zerotransfat
Summary: Shouto is a celebrity in the city of Cloudbank—and he seems to have it made. He’s a hero, steadily climbing in popularity. His longtime crush, Izuku, returned his feelings. It all starts to crumble the night he pulls the Transistor from Izuku’s gut, voiceless.(Shouto is going to find the thing that’s doing this andbreak its heart.Like it did to him.)





	when you speak i hear silence

**Author's Note:**

> I have zero idea what I'm doing. Please play Transistor, it's such a good fucking game and criminally underrated.

The lights of Cloudbank are bright in the dark, piercing through the night.

Even a hundred blocks away, it is bright enough to let him see the surroundings. Shouto tries not to think about it, but it’s no use. He’s thinking of blood on the ground of the Empty Set.

He shivers and pulls the familiar green jacket closer to his shoulders. With it on Shouto can pretend it was another day on the job. Another day patrolling the city.

He turns the corner, and _oh._

A familiar figure with messy green hair slumped on the wall, limp and lifeless. Izuku lies pinned to the concrete like a grotesque butterfly. The broadsword in his stomach glows cyan, the huge red gem in it like an unblinking eye.

The image is always going to haunt his dreams, now.

“Hey. I’m over here.”

Shouto jumps a little at the voice he thought he’d never hear again. It’s filtered through the crackle of electronics. There’s a heartbreaking crack in Izuku’s voice that tells Shouto he’s trying not to panic.

“C’mon, pull.”

The hilt of the Transistor is smooth against his palms as he wraps his hands around it. Shouto pulls, and closes his eyes to block out the image of Izuku's still open eyes.

It slides out of Izuku’s body with a disturbing _slunk_ noise.

“There. Together again. Well, sort of.”

Shouto wants so much to say something. Anything.

“Hey, Shouto. Say something already, won’t you?” The sword flashes in time with Izuku’s voice, down to the way he sounds like he’s about to cry. “I’m in here, not there. I’m in here, but you’re out there then... _oh god_. This is so messed up.”

Shouto opens his mouth, trying to form familiar words, and nothing comes out.

“Shouto? Shouto are you there?”

He’s capable of making sound, the panicked gasps coming out of his mouth, but he’s choking on the words. The sounds are in his head but they don't come out.

“Hey, Shouto. Say something already. This isn’t like you... _oh._ Oh _no._ ” Izuku says.

He wants to fall to his knees, he wants to sit there against the cold wall beside the empty shell of his boyfriend. He wants to sleep, Izuku’s voice in his ears.

But the world isn’t giving either of them any time to get reality through their heads. Reality is already here, and it is ready to kill him and rip what remains of Izuku out of his cold dead hands. Shouto’s fingers tighten on the hilt of the Transistor. _Let them try._ He had been alone for so long and finally found someone he wanted to hold on to, only for _this_ to happen.

“S-Shouto! Heads up! They’re here.” Izuku’s voice says and through the cracks in the walls they come. Chittering machines coloured in white and malicious red appearing from thin air.

He hoists the blade up, touches his forehead to the surface of the Transistor. It glows and hums, as if responding to his touch.

“I’m with you, Shouto.” Izuku whispers as he turns to smash the blade down on a white monster.

 

* * *

 

 _Lather, rinse and repeat. Lather, rinse and repeat._ Shouto’s going through the Processes with little difficulty. Although he is a little out of breath, he’s nowhere near exhausted yet, and with each kill he grows stronger, surer with the abilities the Transistor grants him. Muscles memory keeps breaking up his stride however— Shouto keeps reaching for ice or fire and getting exactly nothing, because his quirk is gone along with his voice.

They fight their way out. Izuku points him towards a little side street through Goldwalk, through the silence. Shouto makes sure to check every terminal, desperate for any scrap of information, a bit of good news. All he gets is more disappearances, a candlelit vigil for his own death, and a promotion for katsudon.

How could he resist? He orders, and is ambushed by more enemies.

His boyfriend is still a dork, for all that he’s trapped in a giant glowing sword. “Left ourselves open. For katsudon.” Izuku says, trying for a dry, deadpan delivery. It doesn’t work, and Shouto can’t help the amused chuff that escapes him. Izuku laughs too, and the circuitry on the Transistor flashes in time with the sound. “At least it’ll be there by the time you get back to your apartment.”

 

* * *

  


Leaning against a Process-white wall is a motorcycle, tank still full of gas and engine still warm.

Shouto tries not to think too much about where the owner ended up.

“Okay, East 64 onramp, five blocks down, take the second right. Do _not_ turn left,” Izuku says, trying for casual instead of heartbreakingly-anxious. It doesn't work. He kicks the stand away, gunning the engine and speeding off down the highway.

“And...thanks for the lift.”

“Hi.” Izuku says, trying to sound brave again. “You turned left.”

Shouto doesn’t say anything in return, only guns the engine. The bike rumbles under him as he speeds over the bridge, heading towards the Empty Set. Where everything started.

“ I thought we agreed to skip town. We’re going back there? You’ve met those things, Shouto— they do not have a sense of humour. They track you down, wipe you out, and take whatever’s...whatever’s left of me, back to the Camerata.” Izuku’s voice trembles.

No response, only the sound of the engine as they speed above a quickly emptying city. He holds the Transistor closer, tighter, the beat of his own heart louder than anything else, except Izuku’s voice.

“Look, whatever you’re thinking, do me a favour,” Izuku says, “Don’t let me go.”  


* * *

 

 

The familiar streets they know are now almost unrecognizable, deserted. There is no one else in Highrise.

The thought makes the hair on Shouto's nape rise. Everywhere he looks there are more Processes, turning buildings chalky white. More Traces tell Shouto what he fears is true, the remains of people whose faces he knew whispers to Izuku.

“Oh, Uraraka. So this is what happened to you…” Izuku’s voice sounds so sad, and Shouto can’t help the gasp that escapes him either. Not Uraraka, oh no, not her too…

The names and Traces continue. _Denki Kaminari, Mashiro Ojiro, Tsuyu Asui, Momo Yaoyorozu…_

After that last one, Shouto has to find a corner to just...sit, for a little bit.

It’s a string of tragedies broken only by whatever levity he could muster, if only for Izuku. While some things are sad, there are still some things that they laugh at, Izuku trying just as hard for his sake. Shouto thinks that’s the only way he’s staying sane.

“Oh, Shouto,” Izuku sighes, and his heart shines from the inside.

At least they are still together.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a love story, and a tragedy.


End file.
